A Friend In Cuenca, Ecuador

April 16, 2013

If I do dare say, I believe yesterday may have been the first day of Spring. While our calendars tell us Spring begins on the 21st day of March, you know as well as I do, the end of March is still Winter. Spring, in my book, begins when I see the first buds.

For weeks now, I’ve been watching the Daffodils sprout up from the ground. We’ve got Lilies and Iris all over the place. What we’ve been missing is any type of tree buds. I’ve been searching, like I do every year and like every year, I’m disappointed in the delay. I oftentimes wonder if there may be something “wrong” with our current year.

“Where are they?” I ask. Of course, my question usually falls on deaf ears because Laura’s getting a bit tired of my whining. “Where are they? I swear back when I lived in New York, they were here by now. People in the city probably have trees with leaves on them by now.” I always think we live in an area that’s late for Spring to arrive.

I think it may be here now though. A few days ago, I began noticing a green haze across the front lawn. During my usual morning walk, I would see small neon tips to the Lilac bushes and just this past Sunday, the maroon began to unfold from the twigs of the Thundercloud Plums. We have them shading the front windows to keep us cool during the warm Summer. And they’ve worked out very well. Beautiful they are.

Yesterday was the first day – I saw through the woods in the back, a Maple tree surrounded by a fog of red. I said, “Hey look. Right over there.” She walked towards me and faced where I was pointing. “Look right through those two trees down in the woods. Can you see the red?”

“Yes.”

“Right there – through those two trees. You see it?”

“You’re an idiot.”

I have a good time over exaggerating with Laura. Keeps her on her toes.

I keep telling myself that I’m going to go out and take pictures while the sun is shining. I keep saying that I need to post on this blog. It’s my hobby and I love doing it. But then I get to working and I look up and it’s 4:30 in the afternoon. Like clockwork, the afternoon clouds had already moved in and the picture taking window is closed. Today it rained. It was beautiful this morning. This type of thing is turning into a trend that’s becoming bothersome.

Laura didn’t miss the opportunity yesterday though because when I stood and started walking around for a quick break, I couldn’t find her anywhere. It wasn’t until I caught a glimpse of her kneeling in the leaves of one of the front gardens. She was taking pictures of some of the very few flowers that have already bloomed in these parts. The beautiful violet, pink, purple and blue Lungwort (Pulmonaria). These flowers always bloom next to first and every year, we take pictures of them to post online. And they never disappoint – they’re very pretty.

It was windy yesterday and when Laura came back inside, she complained that her photo shoot may not have turned out the way she wanted. I had to remind her that we aren’t professionals over here. We simply take photos to add to my posts. I’m not sure that helped much, because she was still kind of mad. And I feel for her. I remember just a few weeks later, last year, when I was outside on my knees trying to take similar photos of Fiddlehead Ferns. Even thought they were very short and rigid, they too moved with the wind and it drove me next to crazy.

It does drive you insane. When you spend so much time waiting for that perfect shot, only for the wind to blow. And it never seems to stop right away. There’s nothing and then wind, wind, wind. As soon as you give up and move to take a picture of something else, it stops.

—

Late this evening, Laura and I were eating potatoes I had boiled earlier. We were sitting at one of the only pieces of furniture we have in this large, echoey house – the kitchen table. She had a potato on her plate and I had one and a half on mine. I like to dip my cooked potatoes in mayo and ketchup and she only likes the ketchup. Either way, I have to say, the potato is a very delicious and rather filling entree. After just a few minutes and one and a half medium sized potatoes later, I was full. And I think she was as well.

She sat there looking at her plate when she asked me, “Do you think something’s wrong?”

When things take a turn like this, I usually answer in the affirmative. I said, “Yes. Why? Do you feel it?”

“I feel something. I’m not sure what it is, but it’s definitely there. It’s everywhere. I think it’s the world.”

Now, we don’t watch the news and we don’t watch TV. All we have is an internet connected to Hulu and a few movies on Netflix. We aren’t ones for politics and tragedy, but since it’s so ingrained in everything around us, it’s nearly impossible to escape.

“I understand what you’re saying and I could probably describe the exact feeling you’re having. It begins as a numbness in the head and then travels down to a nervous feeling in the stomach.”

She just nodded to agree. And kept looking at her plate.

I just think we’re both nervous about the future. We’re going to a place we’ve never spent more than a few days at a time and we’re expected to call it home. For ever how long. We’re supposed to get up and leave what we’ve come to enjoy so much and trade it in for something we know nothing about. Somehow, we’re supposed to sever the emotion we’ve built up with the people we’ve become friends with and learn about and attempt to connect with an entirely new culture. And we’re supposed to do this all based simply on the idea of hope.

I’m beginning to have second thoughts about how things are turning out. I’ve been cursed with a nomadic disease, yet all I crave to do is hunker down and live. I don’t want to move from place to place, but I can’t help it. When we get down about things, I have to remind ourselves that we’re finished taking pictures of things here in Connecticut and there’s a world out there waiting for us. It’s a world that needs to be photographed.

I don’t know. In two weeks, perhaps the mood with change, but until then, I’m afraid that every time the clouds move in and it begins to rain in the afternoon, we’ll have these types of conversations. Ones that make us question the grand scheme of things.

—

When we used to live in New York, Laura had a friend named Franny. I met her once – I was asked to help her move some furniture and for payment, she gave us two end tables. We currently have one of those end tables still with us here in Connecticut and have one down in Florida.

When I met Franny, I remember thinking of how interesting she could possibly be. I say “possibly,” because I had only known her for not more than ten minutes when I came to that judgement. But she held herself in a certain way and spoke in another that led me to think of the type of personality she had.

As I come to find out, Franny was an interesting person when I first met here and one who I may deeply enjoy talking to. It appears that she and her husband have undertaken an adventure of a lifetime. You can read about it here.

Robert and Franny Lochow

If you read her blog and watched the above video, you’ll understand how easy it it to admire these people. I’ve had the dream of doing something wild like this for a very long time and to see others actually act, it gives me hope. Hope that I won’t spend next year the same way I spent this year and so on. I can’t stress to you enough how much I enjoy reading stories like the one Franny wrote. And to learn about who she is – a writer, a volunteer, an editor and a voice actor – I mean, she’s doing it. And to expatriate to Cuenca, Ecuador? That’s incredible.

Perhaps if I had known about Franny’s story when Laura and I were eating our potatoes, I would’ve had a better answer for her.

—

Our cat is doing fine. His meowing has somewhat settled and he seems to enjoy sleeping on the cushioned chairs much more than he used to. He’s no longer trying to escape outside during every waking moment and if I’m not mistaken, he’s rather taking to the fact that he can get some shuteye without the fear of being swallowed by a bear. I knew it would take some time and that he was a kitten, but like I’ve told Laura more times than I can count – he’s very adaptive and he’ll eventually come around.

I’ll end with a suggestion for my music loving friends out there, and I hope this suggestion can be taken seriously (I’m not sure how Silversun Pickups are viewed anymore and I’m not sure how we’re supposed to think). I found a new (old) song that you may enjoy. Like I just said, it’s by the Silversun Pickups and I think it’s pretty good. I don’t listen to the radio much, so I don’t have any idea if this is played out, but if it isn’t, give it a shot. It picks up toward the end.

Silversun Pickups – The Royal We

I found this by browsing around for new types of music. I’ve had pretty good luck with Youtube’s “suggestion” column in the right side of the results pages. If you search for something that’s not really out there, you can get lucky with some of the what’s listed elsewhere. I’ve found Joe Bonamassa (the world’s most ultimate guitarist) and Empire of the Sun this way.

Enjoy and as always, if you have any feedback, please feel free to leave a comment below.

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About Jay Gaulard

Hi, my name is Jay Gaulard and I'm a full time blogger living in Maine. I've been writing since 2006 and have covered just about every topic on earth, one way or another. This is a blog about the goings ons of my life. There's a wide variety of categories to browse, so take your time and enjoy. If you ever have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them at the bottom of the post pages. I respond very quickly.